If you've been passing up long, steady endurance rides for a summer filled with group rides and races, you may be facing a late-season slump, losing steam when it's time to ramp up for fall centuries and off-road epics. The solution: Reboot your training with a micro-periodized training cycle, says Jeb Stewart, of coaching service Endurofit: "After you let your muscles rebuild and your central nervous system recover, you'll be ready to go long and feel strong again."

This plan will help you recover from training stress and tune up your fitness as you head into fall. After finishing a full cycle, repeat Week 1, with about eight hours total of riding at active recovery or endurance pace and one day of hard-intensity riding, before resuming a full-on training plan.

WEEK 3: Add subthreshold intervals--climb steeper hills, ride at a brisker pace. Throw in a spirited group ride, while making the other longer day easy.

WEEK 4: Do a ride or two with some VO2-max work. Try two sets of 3x3 minutes at VO2 power (an effort of 9 on a scale of 1 to 10) with three minutes' rest between intervals and five to 10 minutes between sets, or hammer a three- to six-minute climb, or ride a fast paceline. Add a hard group ride or race this weekend and take the other day off or ride easy. If you're not feeling up to going hard, skip the VO2 work